Letter: NFL athletes are issued a license to maim rivals

Reading the Feb. 1 editorial about on-field violence in the National Football League, it just affirmed the reason why I stopped watching football some 10 years ago. The game has morphed into an insidious spectacle of dancing, showboating, trash-talking and a sickening display of poor sportsmanship.

So little has been done to curb this Neanderthal behavior and, sadly, many fans come to expect it. Advertising even panders to it. This behavior spawns violence on the field and has now weakened the integrity of the sport.

The shame of it all is that there are some very gifted and talented athletes working hard to be at the top of their game only to be physically upended by some trash-talking idiot given the green light to inflict unnecessary pain by his coaches and rabid fan base.